


The bus stop

by orphan_account



Series: Stories to fall asleep to [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Buses, Fluff, High School, Levi Hates the Cold (Shingeki no Kyojin), M/M, No Angst, One Shot, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, levi got it from erwin, sappy teenagers, school boy erwin, school boy levi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26430316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Levi stands everyday at the bus stop, until someone new shows up and makes his life more interesting.---“What's your name?”The head picked up from staring at the ground, and looked with widened eyes.“Didn't I mention it when I introduced myself?”“No... I'm just bad with names.” Levi lied.“Ah, okay.” He smiled. The bus appeared over the crest of the hill. “My name is Erwin.”
Relationships: Levi/Erwin Smith
Series: Stories to fall asleep to [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921846
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	The bus stop

Today, the sunlight was a deep orange. It was rich, a thick, soft warmth that fell like molasses on Levi's skin whenever it could reach him. It sputtered as the bus drove on, but always returned one moment or the next; never leaving, never forgetting and never quitting.  
He shifted in his seat, pressing closer to the window and away from the reaching splashes that rolled through the glass on the opposite side. The rough fabric of his bag rubbed against his bare forearms as he gripped it tight on his lap, clutching as the world threw him around for a bit when the wheels met a bump. His shirt clung to his skin in a salty, irritating way. He felt a stray drop glide down his brow.  
The sky outside had only just begun to brighten in a show of colours. Just mere moments before, when he stood at the bus stop, it was a pale dark blue that held a serene, almost calming tone to it. Now, it was more a light blue, and a royal picking of purples and pinks where the sun begun its ascent. Everyday it done that; it bore Levi.  
His head lightly tipped forward as the vehicle came to a whining stop, which was quickly overtaken by an adamant growling of the engine and vibration of glass. He grabbed the bag and waited patiently while a few elders passed him, listening to the familiar hiss of the doors sliding open until he stepped out with a mumbled thanks to the driver. The air felt a little clearer outside, and a light breeze ruffled his hair as his bag settled itself against his hip and he heard the bus take off with another complaint.  
As he approached the school, soft murmurs and laughs drifted over to him where others walked the same journey. He lifted his eyes to the crowds as he heard a shouting of his name, and -among a sea of short and tall heads- came the rushing of Hanji with Moblit trailing her heels. She ran to catch up with him, with the poor boy running after her like a lost puppy, and enthusiastically begun reciting her new discoveries on the advancement of her bacteria petri-dish civilisation.  
He listened at some points, like when she explained how to feed them with agar, but warded her off when she wouldn't stop blathering with a threat that they'll advance into a smarter organism than her. Unfortunately, she took it the wrong way and went into a rant on how wonderful a thing that would be.  
Nifa joined them by the school entrance, smiling warmly when she saw what was happening and calling for Mike and Nanaba to come over. They walked through the automatic doors, Levi feeling content when he felt the cool of the air conditioning and the vast expanse of the entrance hall open around him. Voices now echoed in the enclosed room, as opposed to dissipating to the cloudless sky, and Levi fell in behind Mike who formed a clear path through the swarms of people with his height. Pretty early on he found that, despite being a senior, most people would trample on him and never even notice his presence.  
He felt plush carpet as they joined into a corridor, walking through hallways with warm yellow lights and walls plastered with examples of work and posters, all some kind of school propaganda. They exited into a last turn up a broad, spiralling staircase that made out their steps to be much louder and rougher than they were, and stepped into a rather stuffy classroom.  
It had a slightly musty smell to it, of old, hard carpet and light hints of whiteboard marker, but Levi couldn't imagine it any other way. He set his bag down on his solitary desk that came in the second row from the open windows, and watched as Hanji and Nanaba sat on the table in front of him, Mike and Nifa wandering to his right with Moblit beyond them. They weren't the first here, Levi could pick a few stray students on phones or chatting in groups, whose names he didn't know, but he couldn't care less about that.  
He sat down and moved his bag under his desk, resting his cheek in a hand while listening to his friends talk. A few strays of birdsong came in through the windows.  
The sunlight was yellow now, lighter but still a heavy blanket if Levi tried to touch it. He thrummed his fingers against the tabletop when the teacher entered, most students having already sat down but still talking all the while. He stopped and lifted his eyes when the teacher called for silence, but had no laptop taken out or books or board markers. The class quietened immediately in a curiosity, too feeling the shift from regular routine.  
The man begun to speak about trivial things, of school and friends and the daunting of the fear of the unknown. But Levi could already guess where the announcement was headed. And sure enough, the man begun to walk to the door, still facing them and occasionally gesturing with his hands. Levi's eyes followed those hands in boredom, lightly rising and falling as he kept on talking and he took out a pen to spin with his fingers. Until he beckoned from the door, to someone outside the classroom, and suddenly he had company standing next to him in front of the board. A few girls giggled in some corner. Levi stopped spinning his pen.  
The boy, if he could even be called that, was as tall as the teacher. His hair was groomed and neat, a soft blonde that almost shined in the shade of the room where the sun couldn't reach him. He had a strong kind of face, with large eyebrows that complimented his features and a protruding bridge on his nose. And his smile.  
Levi had often called Mike a dog for sniffing loudly and having the scruffy, almost unkempt appearance of one. Levi had often called Moblit a dog for following Hanji ever so dutifully. But the quiet, delicate smile this boy had was enough to make Levi rethink all of that, and call this guy a golden retriever with the honesty and wholesomeness his face carried.  
It was hard to tell from the bit of distance, but his eyes seemed to be a clear blue colour that went well with his hair. Levi stared at him mutely as the teacher went on talking about new students, and only looked away quickly when the boy's gaze fell on him and the smile was suddenly directed on him.  
But he didn't care too much. Because this was just another person, with another life story and another future, and he'd probably forget this boy ever existed by the time he got a job. So he met the gaze head-on and looked between him and the teacher with half-lidded eyes, so as not to stare rudely. He wasn't about to learn the name of this one either.  
The day went by relatively normally after that. Levi went through his routine of lessons along with everyone else, and wrote listless fact after fact of things he didn't care much about, but saved to his memory all the same. The boy was assigned the window seat to the left of Levi, but again Levi didn't care all too much because there wasn't much point in doing so. And as he walked out, waving bye to his friends and heading to his bus stop with one arm clung to the strap of his bag, the sun was several hours from setting.  
The walk was always peaceful by the time he had walked a good distance from the school. On one side, a low cobblestone wall marked the edges of fields where long grasses grew, rustling lulling-ly when the wind blew. On the other, was the somewhat worn down road full of bumps and cracks where not many a car passed on. His bus stop consisted of a lumpy bent sign with an aged wooden shelter.  
Despite him only wearing a short sleeve shirt, the sun beat down on him and he felt hot and sweaty. He headed into the shelter, sitting down in the somewhat meagre shade it offered. The chirping of crickets and smooth birdsong sounded all around him now that he had the time to focus on it, the tussling of leaves and grass only an occasional chorus that whispered lightly in the background should the wind decide to blow. A dry, earthy smell of old wood filled his senses, and he took his water bottle to drink it off.  
But then, footsteps sounded. It wasn't exactly that they were non existent on this road, but Levi perhaps only saw another person here once a day. They were slow, careful footsteps that rung heavy and sure-footed. Levi thought some elderly woman by the speed of it.  
He chewed his lip until it became hot copper, and he couldn't take the suspense of who exactly shuffled so slowly any longer. He leaned forward, not swinging his legs any more in a careful act of balance, and peaked his eyes around the edge.  
Coming on the small crest the bus stop stood on, was the boy. But Levi only saw the crown of his head. His neck was arched downwards, arms holding a phone he was transfixed on. Levi let out his breath in a rush through his nose.  
The boy might have heard that, or just had the chance to stop staring at his phone, because he looked up and his gaze fixed on Levi. His face was hard, not at all garbed in the soft expression it had in class, and his mouth was a thin frowning line with not a hint of the kindness left. Levi was taken aback, eyes widening in slight shock at how the man practically stuck out like a chip of ice in the yellow heat of summer.  
But then he seemed to register Levi was there, and melted back into that tender smile.  
“Is this the bus that goes back to town?” He asked and stopped walking, pointing to the sign reaching above the bus shelter. The voice was smooth and deep, perfectly complementing the boy's mature appearance. Levi nodded slowly. “Ah, that's a relief.”  
His smile widened into a light grin and he walked into the bus shelter, sitting next to Levi and bringing a smell of pine and mint with him. Some weird foreign cologne.  
“I'm new to this school, as you already know from my introduction,” He started. “I recently moved house and the best way for me to get here and back would be by bus, so here I am.” Levi nodded, swinging his legs again in boredom.  
The other poked at his phone some more before reaching to put it in a trouser pocket. Levi scrambled for a name, scrambled to remember anything the boy had said when he had stood at the front, but his memory failed him and he remembered bitterly he chose to ignore him along with the others.  
“Why are you wearing your blazer?” Levi asked, feeling feebly awkward at the silence. The boy sat mute for some time, nearly making Levi think he hadn't heard him or was ignoring him before he replied.  
“I wasn't sure what the school's policy was with wearing uniform, even if there is blistering weather.” He looked down at the black jacket as if it were the first time he had seen it. Yet Levi could tell he was hot, there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead that he could see with their proximity. He cocked his head.  
“How about you take it off, then?”  
The boy turned his head and smiled. “Yeah, good idea.” He grinned. With the air he had, Levi would have thought he would take it off in the most over-done, posh of ways, however was quickly corrected by the unorthodox, clumsy manner the boy just dragged it over his head and stuffed it into his bag. Albeit after folding it nicely.  
As the sun kept lowering ever so persistently, Levi saw the yellow rays reach his shoes now. The greater part of his body was still in shade, for which he was grateful, for the weather didn't give him much respite to not sweat all day. But it gave a shine to the tips of his leather shoes, and to the entirety of the boy's shoes, whose legs were longer and could understandably stretch out more.  
For the second time of the day, Levi felt happily content. Although he didn't like to be in bustling crowds, it was rather lonely to sit by himself day after day, year after year in some secluded bus stop. His new company didn't seem to talk much, and Levi felt himself warm up to that. A strictly professional relationship between them, as friends of a shared bus stop. Levi could live with that. He turned to the other.  
“What's your name?”  
The head picked up from staring at the ground, and looked with widened eyes.  
“Didn't I mention it when I introduced myself?” Oh, right.  
“No... I'm just bad with names.” Levi lied.  
“Ah, okay.” He smiled. The bus appeared over the crest of the hill. “My name is Erwin.”  
There was a squeaking of breaks as the bus grinded to a stop, and Levi got up with a nod of acknowledgement to board it, with the afternoon sun still shining yellow through the windows inside. 

\---

Today, the sunlight was a watery white. It washed through large panes of glass and into the bus to make Levi's already pale skin paler, and Erwin's combed hair shinier. Despite the covering of clouds blanketing the sky, the weather still proved to be hot but now with an added humidity. Erwin didn't wear a blazer this time.  
He sat on the other side of the bus, in a seat one row in front of Levi. In a stroke of luck, Erwin only boarded the bus two stops after Levi did, so at least he didn't need to talk to the guy in the morning as well. But by the smile and wave he pointed at him as he boarded it, Levi could tell the guy thought of him as a close friend despite talking for no more than 10 minutes. The image of a golden retriever flashed in his mind. Levi leaned against the window and smiled bemusedly.  
His stop came quicker than usual, and he disembarked with his usual thanks. Erwin either didn't realise this was his stop or let him go first, the fucking gentleman, but the latter became apparent when he heard the steady footfall behind him, especially when he looked back only to be met with a warm expression.  
Levi didn't dislike that expression, per say, but it made him feel sappy and gross. So he chewed his cheek and raised an eyebrow, before turning his head to focus on the bumpy concrete he walked on. Hanji only ran to meet him with a raucous cry when he nearly got to the entrance, and by that time Erwin also had caught up with him shoulder-to-shoulder. Well, shoulder-to-head.  
“You're friends with Erwin?” She whooped, Moblit tapping her shoulder for her to lower her voice. “You, of all people, making friends with the new kid?”  
He threw her a dirty look. Erwin only laughed and asked her about her goggle-like glasses, to which began a rant Levi could never hope to hear the end of. Erwin was charming, at the worst of times. At the best of times, he seemed almost manipulative in his ability to smooth-talk to anyone and everyone, directing entire conversations like a conductor conducting a musical performance. And Levi had only known him for a day.  
They entered the building. He fell in step behind the hunk, seeing the mysterious lack of Mike, and tried to speed-walk to keep up with the large steps. He suddenly realised Mike had kept the pace slow exclusively for him. He looked up at the blonde mop of hair and wondered if he knew Levi was using him as a human mother duck.  
When they got to the stairs, Erwin took them two at a time and raced well ahead of any of them, so when Levi got up, slightly out of breath, he just stood there with his hands in his pockets and teeth gleaming in the light.  
Once Levi had sat down at his desk, bag by his leg and head in his palm, Erwin reached over from his own table at the left of Levi.  
“Did we have any homework?” He asked, looking faintly troubled at his question. Levi slightly lifted his head from his palm to shoot him a quizzical look.  
“No...” He mumbled. Then. “I don't think so.”  
The ever so slight crease on his brow eased and Erwin relaxed back into his chair with a huff.  
“I had soccer practice yesterday,” He clarified. “Completely forgot about school and just went to sleep right after.”  
Levi rotated in his chair to face the other.  
“You have soccer practice?” He put his arm down on the table. “Mike does soccer too.” Erwin perked at that.  
“Mike, yeah. He was one of the guys there, he's cool. I think there was Eld, and Gunther too.”  
“Do you know why he's not in today?”  
“No. He seemed to play fine, and it's not like he got injured.”  
Levi frowned at that. He guessed maybe he finally caught a cold with all that sniffing of his. He turned away from Erwin, laid back into his chair just as he saw the teacher enter the classroom.

\---

“So, do you play soccer?” Erwin shuffled next to him on the table, already having put his lunch down.  
“Levi hates mud, so he stays pretty clear of that kind of sport.” Petra answered before he could even open his mouth. He considered the answer, before deeming it acceptable and nodded.  
“Oh.” Erwin seemed a little disappointed. “Do you play any other sport, then?”  
“I play table tennis, if that counts.” He speared a piece of potato with a fork and put in his mouth.  
“It definitely counts!” Petra chattered. “You should see him, Erwin, his reflexes are so fast he can deflect anything! I know, because I'm part of his team.” She seemed somewhat proud of that.  
“I see.” Erwin nodded and chuckled.  
“Yeah, we also got that brat Eren and Jean on there, too.”  
“Eren and Jean?”  
“Delinquents.” He huffed.  
“So, guys.” Hanji begun, leaning over with folded arms. “Do you think Romeo and Juliet's relationship was built on love, or lust?”  
Levi nearly choked on his water, but Erwin and Nanaba quickly responded with arguments. Levi looked at their serious faces and smirked at the absurdity of it.  
He ate his food quickly, and lifted an eyebrow to see Erwin had long wolfed down his meal while talking. He cleared the table, taking Erwin's too, and then returned to hear the conversation take a dive for very far-fetched interpretations of the text, mostly led by Hanji.  
Erwin lifted his head to see him standing, while Hanji waved her arms dramatically talking of sonnets.  
“We should get going for maths.” He told the slightly confused looking smile. Erwin nodded, sliding out from his seat, with the others taking the cue and getting up too. 

\---

It was raining. As soon as Levi stepped out, he felt the cold drops patter in his hair and roll down his bare arms. He thought he had heard a light drizzle outside during their last lesson, with the windows open and all, but now that he was actually standing in it, it fell heavier and denser.  
He picked up his pace, weaving through the throngs of people and trying not to slip on the wet concrete. There was no clear division of sunlight or shade any more, rather the whole world was coloured in a bleak whiteness. He took a turn, speeding up and passing a few people that had had the mind to bring a coat or something of the like. He had a distance to go before he reached shelter of his own, so he didn't stop to chat with any friendly face.  
No humming of birds or chirping of crickets seemed to exist in this dreary world, only the thrashing of leaves tossed by a rising wind. A loud boom resonated and shook Levi to his core, but he continued walking, blinking the water from his eyes. It was to be expected, he thought, that a storm should come after so many days of dry, hot weather. He took another turn, leading to a more rutting road and further away from houses and into open fields.  
A voice called out for him. He nearly turned to check who it was, before deciding to push on in favour of not getting hypothermia. He could always apologise tomorrow. He managed to get more steps in, before another crack of thunder rang out, and with that the voice came closer.  
“Levi!”  
He turned this time, when he could hear a rushing of footsteps splattering water. Erwin was running towards him, with a large, black umbrella lifted over his head and guarding his impeccable hair. Levi would have laughed at that if he didn't feel so bone weary.  
“What are you doing?” His voice was almost sullen, angry. “You'll catch a cold like that.” Levi stared up at him with a blank expression as he lifted the umbrella to fit over Levi's head. He shrugged, lowering his gaze and not quite sure how to answer. Erwin's frown softened and he lidded his eyes. “Come on, let's go. I'll hold the umbrella.”  
They begun walking, somewhat awkwardly trying to squish together to stay out of the rain, with Levi at the front. He looked back up at Erwin at one point, and saw him looking forward, with some of the rain getting on him from the back. He dropped his gaze again and could make out the bus stop in a steamy haze of streaming water. They picked up their step.  
When they got to the shelter, they saw the wind had blown in some of the rain to drench the seats, making sitting on them an unquestionable subject. Levi tried pressing his finger on the wood, but it came back wet and covered with some specks of dirt. He shook his head at Erwin.  
So they stood, just a little length from the seats, partially covered by the low roof of the shelter and partially by Erwin's umbrella. Lighting flashed, reflecting in the wet of the landscape and dazzling the scene for a split second. One, two, three, four... A roll of thunder resounded and Erwin tensed beside him before promptly melting back.  
They didn't talk, but somehow, the silence was comforting and lacking the usual awkwardness Levi would experience. He felt his arms chill with the wind blowing on the bared, wet skin, and he crossed them tight to his body.  
“When will the bus come?” Erwin mumbled, an insult to the calmness.  
Levi stared at the stonework of the fence on the opposing side of the road, tracing the lines and rocks over with his eyes.  
“I don't know.” He mumbled. “It should be here any minute.”  
But they stood longer than a minute, and then ten. Erwin switched his arms, passing over the umbrella and nudging Levi to stand on the other side of him. But moving seemed to drag more warmth from him, and when he stood to stand beside Erwin on the other side it seemed it was closer than when they last had stood. Levi felt heat emanate from the bunched muscle of his arm, and he saw the hairs only stand lightly on end. He wondered how he wasn't cold in such weather.  
The rain pattered on in a stead-fast, annoying stubborn way. Just when it eased it brought more, and just when the thunder stopped it made a reappearance non too soon, non too late. His hair felt heavy and a mess on his head, and his eyes like to flutter closed by each passing minute.  
But then he heard a rumbling, a familiar hiss, and got nudged from his dozing stupor. Lights, warm and yellow instead of the cold of lighting, pierced through the the wall of rain and the bus came over the crest of the hill. It grumbled to a stop, and the doors slid open with a whine. Erwin looked down at him, with softened eyes and a smile, and they both walked up to the vehicle, Erwin letting Levi step in first.  
The warmth felt almost like a blanket to his frozen body, and he showed his ticket with a slightly trembling arm. The bus was empty, and Levi picked out a seat near the front, shuffling over to sit by the window. He twisted around in surprise as he heard the dropping of a bag next to him, and watched in mild shock as Erwin made to sit there.  
His umbrella was down and compact, dripping wet with water, and his hair had seen a light drizzling as well. His mouth was set in a gentle expression, and he reached into his bag to draw out a blazer, handing it to Levi.  
He took it wordlessly, shrugging it over his shoulders and looking down at his covered hands when he saw how hysterically over sized it was. Erwin chuckled earnestly.  
“Thanks,” He said, wrapping himself up and slouching in a satisfied air.  
“You need it, you're half frozen.”  
“Then why didn't you give it earlier?” There was no resentment in his voice, only a tired teasing.  
“Well, it didn't quite feel like I should have given it to you, then” Erwin replied reasonably. Levi leaned back, looking at the steamed up window.  
“Yeah.” He mumbled simply. “Didn't feel like it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If I have made any glaringly obvious mistakes, please do call them out, I don't mind any criticism.  
> I am aware of how horribly boring this fic is. Nothing really happening combined with describing unnecessary details tends to do that, so I'll take the lesson to not be so boring next time I write :)


End file.
